Happy Holidays from the Government Affairs Team!

The Government Affairs Team wishes you and yours a happy holiday season. We have so enjoyed working with all of you in 2014, and your dedication advocating on behalf of cities, towns and villages is greatly appreciated. We look forward to continuing that work in 2015, and please do not hesitate to contact us if we can assist you in any way. Happy holidays, and Happy New Year!

Sanford Council Discusses Election Change

Members of the Sanford City Council are discussing whether to ask the legislature to make Council elections nonpartisan again. Only a handful of municipalities across the state hold partisan elections, and Sanford was added to that group after a bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Stone was passed in 2013. Representative Stone lost his re-election bid in November. Not all members of the Sanford City Council agree that the elections should be nonpartisan. Read more about the issue here.

Boone ETJ Case to be First Heard by Panel

The Town of Boone's lawsuit challenging a decision by the legislature to strip the town of its extraterritorial jurisdictional powers is the first to be heard by a new three-judge panel. The panel heard arguments in the case on Monday, but has not yet made a ruling. Attorneys for Boone argued that the legislature's action amounts to an unconstitutional local act in which state lawmakers are directing a law at a specific locality under a set of prohibited circumstances. Last year, legislators created the three-judge panel to hear lawsuits questioning the constitutionality of state laws. Previously, such lawsuits were heard by a single judge at the Superior Court level. Read more about the lawsuit and three-judge panel here and here.

Happy New Year; See You in 2015!

A final note for 2014: This will be the last LINC'ed IN publication of the year. LINC'ed IN will resume publication on Jan. 9, 2015. The General Assembly will be back in town the following week, and publication of LeagueLINC Bulletin will resume then. Happy New Year!